Past's Secret
by Fanboy200
Summary: Nick and Lucas play their favorite video game all the time, Past's Secret, but they can't beat the game without the help of their good friend Emma. But how does she know exactly what to do when she's never played before? Find out when the green smoke comes out of the screen and they find themselves somewhere they never thought they'd be.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Nick

"So, we on for a sleepover and Past's Secret tonight?" Nick asked his best friend Lucas as they stood at their lockers after school.

"Totally, wouldn't miss for it the world, what else would we do on a Friday night?" Lucas asked.

"What are you guys doing tonight?" Emma asked as she came over to them, a pile of books in her arms and a bulging backpack slung over her shoulder. She always had a notebook and pen with her, she was an excellent artist.

"Playing video games, dude stuff, you wouldn't understand." Lucas said, blowing her off even though they were friends.

"As newly sexist as that is, girl's can play video games too, and be good at it." She added seeing Lucas's mouth open, he immediately shut it again.

"She's right you know." Nick interjected. "We played Mario last weekend and she kicked my butt." He smiled at her, gosh she was cute. Long brown hair, brown eyes, and that gorgeous smile.

"Mario is nothing compared to Past's Secret." Lucas said, talking more to Nick than to Emma now.

"Past's Secret?" Emma asked, going slightly pale before she realized what was going on.

"Yeah. What's wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost." Nick asked, concern clear in his voice.

"Nothing, I just remembered I forgot to grab my Math notebook." Emma said, although how she could have forgotten anything was beyond them, but Nick also knew she was lying. She forced a smile that looked genuine enough and fooled Lucas, but he could by the look in her eyes that nothing was okay now.

"Well, why don't you come to my house with us." Nick offered. "We can show you how to play and then you can play too if you want."

"Yeah. Sounds good." Emma said, in a distant voice that sounded nothing like her own.

They made their way to Nick's house which was only a block from the school and there wasn't much conversation. When they got to the house Nick offered them a snack and then they sat down to play Past's Secret, their favorite video game.

"So, if you guys play it so much, why haven't you passed it yet?" Emma asked, seeing as how they knew everything about the game.

"Well, we've begun to think there is no way of passing it." Lucas said, looking kind of disappointed. "We can't beat level ten, and that's the final level before you defeat the Dark Queen and beat the game. We've tried asking people at school, but none of them have ever even heard of the game before. We found it in Nick's basement and his dad told us it was a classic."

"Oh." Emma said, was it just them, or did she sound relieved? "So, I guess that's okay then, that you didn't pass it, now you can play it all the time, over and over until you do, right?"

"Well, I guess, but it's totally frustrating." Nick said. "Level 11, after defeating the Dark Queen is when King congratulates you and you find out everything."

"King? Is that the king's name, King?" Emma asked, she was watching as they made their way straight through the game, passing every level like it was a piece of cake, like they'd done it a thousand times, which they probably had.

"See that's the thing, we don't know. That's the kind of stuff you find out when you beat the game, it's the key to Past." Nick explained.

"The key to the past?"

"Not _the_ past, Past, with a capital p, it's the name of the town everything takes place in." Lucas said. His character on the screen was a guy dressed in a long cloak and had a bow an arrow for a weapon. Above his head was a health bar and the name, The Hunter. Nick on the other hand was a character dressed in all black, from head to toe, black boots, black pants, black long-sleeved shirt, and a black hood that covered their whole face so you couldn't see a thing. Above his head was a health bar and the name, Shadow.

"Is that going to a funeral or something?" Emma asked.

"No, he just dresses like that so it's easier to sneak up on his enemies, he's the best guy in the game." Lucas said. They got to level ten and then it ended. They were surrounded by these weird green things that looked like zombies, but more human, they were the minions of the Dark Queen. "Oh come on! Again!" Lucas shouted. Game Over, flashed across the screen in big, red letters and then it went black.

"See, once you get to the tenth level you're surrounded and there's no way to pass." Nick said and sighed deeply.

"Yeah there is." Emma said. They both looked at her quizzically. "You don't get it, do you? This level is about sacrifice. One of you has to die, to distract them, so the other can take them out and move on."

"Sacrifice?" Lucas asked like it was the most absurd idea he'd ever heard.

"Well, yeah. You mean you guys have never thought of that before, I suppose it would be better with more than two people of course." Emma said.

"Okay smarty pants, if you're such an expert on this, why don't you join us and show us how it's done?" Lucas asked, pouring on the sarcasm.

Emma looked reluctant but she couldn't come up with a good reason as to why she shouldn't. "Fine. Just get us to level ten." She said and took a seat next to Nick and picked a controller.

She ended up being really good at it, as if she played as much as them. By the time they reached level ten they were raving about how good she was. "Okay, now get us through those gates." Lucas said.

Then the minions came. The green humanoid zombies surrounded them and Emma had to put her plan to attention. Her character was just a random knight not The Hunter not Shadow which is why it is a good character to sacrifice.

"So what are you planning on do-" Nick started, but he never got to finish his sentence before he shouted, "No!" Emma had just dove into the mass of minions letting them kill her and tear her apart, well her _character_.

"Guys! Don't let me have died in vain, kill them!" Emma yelled them, it was by far the weirdest thing she had ever said.

They stared at her for a second like she was insane and then sprang into action, ripping the minions off her and killing them until there was no one left to kill. Then 'level 11' flashed across the screen just as Game Over had before and the gates that had been guarded by minions opened to reveal an open battlefield and an evil sorceress, the Dark Queen.

"Thanks Emma, we owe you o-" Nick started, but once again his sentence was cut off, not by his own scream this time but by what appeared on the screen and off.

When Dark Queen's thin lips parted no words came out, instead green smoke issued from her between her lips and swirled around Shadow and The Hunter, then the smoke surrounded Nick and Lucas, finally Emma. The smoke had found it's way through the screen and was now upon them. The last thing Nick saw before being knocked unconscious was the worried look on Emma's face, as if she'd made a mistake.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Nick

When Nick woke up and his eyes adjusted to the dim light he could make out a face staring at him from above. Emma. Her face so close it startled him, but it was nice to know she cared enough to be right there when he woke up.

"Wha? Where. Where are we?" Nick asked trying to sit up. Spots formed behind his eyes but they soon faded and Emma was still sitting next to him and Lucas was a foot away, just beginning to sit up as well. He was still with the same people, the environment was just different.

They seemed to be on the edge of forest, there was a row of trees behind them and more behind that, and city lights gleamed not far away.

"You should now." Emma smiled, kind of mischievously, but with sadness hidden behind her beautiful eyes. "You come here everyday."

As confusion washed over Nick, realization hit Lucas. "Past." He whispered. Nick stared at him, then back at the city and the castle beyond that. As unrealistic as it seemed, he knew his friend was right, they were in their favorite video game, and as much as Nick loved to play it, he would never, ever have wished to actually be in.

"No." He mumbled. He hated to admit it, but he was scared. All the minions that lurked the streets, the Dark Queen herself. You never knew who you could trust in this place, that's why he liked the idea of being on the other side of the screen. Lucas, however, was taking it in a completely different way. He thought this was the best thing that could have happened to them.

"This is so cool!" He shouted. "No," he corrected himself, "this is beyond cool!"

"Wait," Nick started, as if something was just coming to him. "how, who, why, who are you?" He stuttered looking at Emma, like he was seeing her for the first time. He couldn't form any words. The way she'd woken up before them, if she had been knocked out at all, the way she knew how to beat the level, the way she immediately knew where they were, even if she's only played the game once.

Uneasiness settled over her and she looked so sad Nick almost regretted asking, but he knew he couldn't go on much longer, trust her much longer, if he didn't have some information.

"I'm Emma. I'm still your friend, in this world, and in Lucas's world, but I'm-"

"Wait." Nick held up his hand telling her to stop talking. "Lucas's world? What, Lucas and us aren't from the same world?"

"Well, it takes a lot of explaining, and I'm afraid I can't tell you everything, or much of everything really, it's kind of like the game, you find out more in the end…" Her voice trailed off and Lucas and Nick looked disappointed and a little bit mad. "I'm so sorry." Emma said and she truly meant it, Nick could tell.

"So, what can you tell us?" Nick asked.

"I'm not from the real world, Lucas's world, the world we all previously lived in. I was born here, as were… never mind that. Anyways, I was sent to the real world to find the people that were supposed to be our saviors and defeat the Dark Queen. I traveled everywhere and everyone who played the game, except you two, were, no offense to them, really old people. I knew you were the ones I was looking for, so I befriended you, and well, gave you the nudge you needed to get here." Emma's voice was shaky and her eyes gave away how scared she was, but they also showed the guilt that they both knew was there.

"So, you only befriended us because you had to? Because it was what your master wanted? You wanted to manipulate us, so really, you're no better than the Dark Queen yourself. You came for us so we could do your bidding for you, you're the Dark Queen and we're your minions." Nick said. He knew as soon as the words left his lips he would regret them, but the anger was there, and it was overpowering his guilt.

"No, that's not true. I-I" Emma's voice faltered as the tears that had been brewing in her eyes began to spill over and her voice shook. "I didn't know it was you guys right away, I befriended you because you guys excepted me, the new girl. I thought you were really awesome guys, it just happened to be a happy coincidence when you ended up being the ones I was looking for too."

Nick didn't know what to believe, to think that his friend, his crush for that matter, might not even have really been his friend after all, it was, unthinkable. "She's telling the truth." A voice said, coming out of the shadows.

The figure was dressed in all black so you could hardly see them make their way out of the woods.

Nick and Lucas both scrambled to their feet and fumbled with their words. "Shadow." Lucas finally settled on. "Is it really you?"

"Yes." His voice was nothing like they had imagined, it was deep and hard, but not quite cold. It was much deeper than any human voice should be, so he obviously used a voice modifier. "And you shouldn't be so hard on her, I can tell she's telling the truth, besides, maybe you aren't the ones, I thought our saviors would have more faith in their friends." Shadow said and he sounded like a disappointed parent although he appeared to be their age.

Nick and Lucas looked uncomfortable, almost like they were going to apologize but decided it would make them seem like children being scolded by a parent.

"I've got you're clothes here Emma, if you want to change." Shadow said and held up some clothes.

"Thanks." Emma got up and grabbed them, then she walked off towards the nearest abandoned house and changed, when she got back Nick's mouth dropped open. She was gorgeous. Her long flowing brown hair was tied back in a tight ponytail, her baggy t-shirt had been traded for a black t-shirt, her sweatpants were now black skinny jeans, her sneakers were men's work boots, and her sweatshirt was a black leather jacket. "This is so much better." She said.

"Wow." Nick said. Then in his head, _Idiot._ "I mean, you look good."

"Thanks." Emma said, though the comment seemed to make her feel uncomfortable.

"Do you still have your weapon?" Shadow asked her.

"Of course, never leave without it." Emma said, she went over to her backpack and took out her sketchbook and pen, she held them and Shadow nodded.

"What are you going to kill people by hitting them over the head with your sketchbook?" Lucas asked sarcastically.

"It's probably like in Percy Jackson, if she uncaps the pen it becomes a deadly weapon like a sword." Nick said.

"You're both wrong." Emma said.

"Then what does it do?" Lucas asked.

"You'll find out if we get attacked."

"We should set up camp for the night, I think everyone here knows that in the city of Past things get much much worse when darkness comes." Shadow said, still standing on the edge of the woods.

"We aren't going in there, are we?" Lucas asked.

Shadow laughed, which seemed especially creepy with his deep voice. "No, that would be suicidal, we'll go to the house Emma was just in, and we can take turns keeping guard."

"Okay, I'll take first watch." Nick said, he still didn't feel quite right in this, he wanted time to think about it.

"No way, the video game version of this place is much milder, you'd get killed here if you kept guard on your first night, I will." Emma said, and she made it sound like it was the end of the discussion. Nick found it hard to believe that this was the girl he had spent the last two years hanging out with.

"Well, glad that's settled. Let's go, shall we?" Shadow said, and led them towards the abandoned house.

Shadow and Emma both had blankets in their backpacks and so they set up camp in the main entrance room, then Emma went outside to keep watch. Nick tossed and turned for about an hour before he decided sleep was impossible, so he went outside to keep guard with Emma.

At first he thought she had abandoned them, but then he saw a light coming from the roof of the house and figured she was up there, when he got to the top she drawing in her sketchbook and didn't seem at all surprised by his appearance.

"Couldn't sleep?" She asked casually without looking up as she continued to draw.

"No." Nick said, he took a seat next to her and watched her draw for a second, she was drawing a sword with a long blade and leather wrapped handle, but just before she finished it by connecting the blade to the handle on the right side, she stopped, leaving about half an inch of space between the two. She then turned the page and started drawing something else.

"Why didn't you finish?" Nick asked.

"It's a long explanation." Emma replied simply.

"It's not like we don't have time." Nick saw a smirk tug at the corners of Emma's lips and he knew she was fighting a smile. Gosh she was pretty.

Emma stopped drawing and handed her notebook to Nick. He flipped through the pages and stared at all the drawings, none of them were finished. There was at least a half an inch left somewhere in the drawings, and he also noticed most of the drawings were of weapons, with a few exceptions. "Why didn't you connect any of them? And why do you only draw weapons?"

"I don't only draw weapons, I just mostly draw them, to prepare." Emma said, which didn't explain much. "See, well there's no easy way to explain it, so I'll show you." Nick looked confused, but the two emotions that were really fighting inside him were fear and excitement, so he sat patiently and waited.

Emma turned to the next page and paused for second, pondering what to draw. "You need a weapon, don't you?"

"Yeah, but draw whatever you want, I can get a weapon later."

"Okay, I'll draw one after this, that way you can help me design it." Emma said, but Nick was still confused as to how something she drew could possibly help him. Then her hand began to fly across the paper, drawing lines here and there and sketching. Nick soon realized what it was, a dove. After just a few minutes her drawing was nearly done, there was just that half inch left to connect.

"That's amazing." Nick said, he was staring at the best, most beautifully drawn dove he'd ever seen.

"Are you ready?" Emma asked, a mischievous smile spread across her face.

"Um, sure." Nick didn't know what to expect, but he wasn't expecting what happened next. Emma took her pen and connected the bottom of the dove's wing to it's back and then it sprang to life. The dove literally came off the paper and stood on it for a second, a pure white real live dove that began flapping it's wings. Nick glanced at Emma and saw a sparkle in her eye that he's never seen before, pure amazement and happiness at this thing she created and brought to life. She was mesmerized by her own beauty.

I looked back at the bird just as it spread it wings one last time and took to the sky, looking back once as if to say thank you.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Emma was so happy and for so many reasons, she was sitting here, on the rooftop with the greatest guy in world, her one true friend, aside from Lucas, and they were watching a bird fly away into the night sky. A beautiful dove _she_ had created.

She so badly wanted to grab his hand, feel comfort in it's warmth, but she knew it wasn't a good idea, not with everything else going on, she had to restrain herself.

"That's amazing." Nick breathed, he still could hardly believe it. "So whatever you draw comes to life?"

"Yes, but it's complicated, and not that easy." She took a deep breath and let it out, relaxing as if about to tell a long story. "I have to finish the drawing, connect it, which you should now understand is why none of my drawings are truly finished. Also, there's exceptions."

"Like what?"

"I can't draw stuff that interferes with free will and stuff like that. I can't draw my enemies not attacking me, I can't control another person, I can't draw someone dead and have it happen in real life, I can't," She took a breath and glanced at Nick before returning her gaze to the night sky. "I can't draw someone falling in love with me."

Everything seemed to go quiet. Nick had been staring at her the whole time she was talking, listening without really taking anything in, but just watching her lips move gracefully, but now he stopped. The words she had just said fully registered in his brain, but he didn't know how to react to them.

He decided on steering the conversation in a different direction. "So, you never finish any of the weapons?"

She sighed, maybe with relief, maybe because of something else. "Well, no. I finish some of them, when I need them. That's what I meant by 'to prepare', to prepare for if something attacks. That way I can have every weapon at my fingertips without having to lug every weapon around with me. I just close the little bit of space left and boom, it comes to my hands."

"So, does it come exactly as you draw it?" Nick asked, this subject truly interested him, if there were a class at his high school that was weapons design or magic, he'd be like Sign. Me. Up.

"Yeah, so if I got bumped while I was drawing and a bump came out on the sword or whatever, there'd be a bump on the actual sword."

"That's so cool." Emma flashed him a genuine smile and he felt himself melting on the inside. "So," He wanted to ask the question that had been burning at the back of his mind his arrived, but he knew that smile on Emma's face would fade as soon as he asked it. No, not fade, disappear.

"So, you want to ask me about your past and what I meant, even though I told you it was like the game and you'd find out in the end." Emma's smile was still there, but if he pushed her too hard, he knew his prediction would ring true.

"Well, yeah, and what you meant by Lucas's world." Nick looked away, sure the smile was gone.

"Lucas is from the real world, the one we were just in, the one you previously believed we were all from." Nick looked up in surprise, he couldn't believe she was telling him this, but he was right, the smile was gone, only a hint of it was left.

"So, you're from here, obviously, am I from here too?" Emma slowly nodded, she couldn't believe she was telling him this. "Then why do I remember the real world so vividly, why do I have so many memories of it? _Why do I consider the real world?_" Nick asked.

"Because, you were born here, but something happened and you were transferred to that world as a baby, you really did grow up there." Emma said.

"What happened?"

"That's, that's really for the king to tell you, when all this over, when the Dark Queen is dead." Emma sounded scared but sad, she knew something that she knew he would want to know.

"But," Nick started, and Emma's gaze went over to him, taking in his face. She gave him a sad look, and for once that was the only emotion in her eyes, they were gleaming with new tears.

He was about to give in, give up and agree with her that he could wait, but something inside him told him to stand his ground. This was his past, his life, it might've been her job, but it wasn't her decision whether or not to keep it from him. He deserved to know. "No, okay, I'm not going to wait until after I've battled some of the most fearsome things I've ever seen to talk to a king who will finally tell me past, you're here now, why can't you just tell me?" His voice slowly rose but he wasn't yelling.

Emma's gaze didn't soften, she didn't appear to feel any sympathy towards him, but she wasn't mad either. The tears were still brewing but they weren't yet falling. "I'm sorry, I realize I'm your friend and I may have information you want but I had a job first and as much as it kills me to say this, my duty comes before my friendships, and certainly before anything else after that, so I can't tell you." Emma looked away and stood up. "Looks like you're wide awake, so I think you can take your turn while I sleep." She voice was shaky, but she wasn't breaking down, not in front of him.

She walked over to the edge of the roof, "You can look through those swords or draw your own." She said, she had left her sketchbook on the roof next to Nick. She knelt and put her hand on the edge, ready to swing down, when she looked up at him one last time. "And don't think for one second you're the only one around here with a hard past and an unforeseen future." And with that, she was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Nick was mad at Emma now, so what if she didn't know her future, or exactly everything about her past, she still knew _who_ she was. He also wasn't happy she had left him alone up here to go sleep, while he hadn't had any either. He picked up her notebook and was tempted to throw it off the roof, but he knew even if they were fighting he couldn't do that to her.

He began flipping through the pages again, looking at the swords and at a few spears but none of them seemed to fit him, not until he got to the most recent drawing.

He stopped and stared at a beautiful sword. Or it wasn't really a sword. It was a long seraph blade, that looked to be made of glass and had red swirling around on the inside, how anyone could have drawn this, was beyond Nick. As soon as he saw it though, he wanted it, he knew it was perfect for him, and Emma thought so too. In the top right corner of the page were measurements, like on all the others, and across the top of the page, **Nick's Weapon** was scribbled in her fast yet neat handwriting.

There was only a small space between where the two sides of the hilt met and Nick took Emma's pen and connected them, the beautiful glass blade appearing instantly at his side. He jumped a bit as it appeared, but he stared at it in awe and picked it up. He stood and wielded it around, the fit was perfect, the fact that Emma knew him so well, well enough to know this was the exact weapon for him, made him want to go and apologize.

He picked up her notebook, pen, and his new sword, and left the roof. He went into the room where everyone was sleeping and quietly made his way over to where Emma's blankets lay, her eyes were closed and she looked peaceful, but her cheeks were wet. Nick instantly felt a pang of guilt. He went back outside and sat in front of the door, but he had left Emma's notebook at her side.

The rest of the night was uneventful and by morning everyone had gotten a goodnight's sleep aside from Nick. Right around dawn the other three awoke and Nick, hearing their moving around, came inside. Emma stared at him, "Did you seriously stay out there all night?"

Nick nodded silently and didn't meet her gaze.

"You really are stupid aren't you?" That was not the response he had been expecting, but before he could say anything back the sound of shattering glass startled all of them.

"What was that?" Lucas asked, he was still sleepy, but he was alert.

"I'll go see." Emma said. Shadow grabbed her hand and held her back.

"Don't be silly, I'll go see." Emma didn't seem like she liked that, but she nodded solemnly.

Shadow drew his sword and made his towards the door, he opened it and stepped outside, the door closing behind him. They heard rumbling movement and grunts, then a loud thump and running feet.

"Shadow!" All three of them screamed. They raced outside and Emma fell to her knees around Shadow's limp body. Blood was pulled around around his head and Emma went to pull off his mask but his hand grabbed hers and stopped her, his head shaking slightly.

"Oh come on Shadow, who cares if they know, you have a head injury and Nick needs to find out soon anyways." Emma said, she sounded more annoyed than worried.

"Find out what?" Nick asked, kneeling beside her now.

"Shadow, please." Emma whispered. He nodded his head slightly and Emma carefully pulled off his mask. Immediately brown hair stained red with blood fell around Shadow's shoulders and eyes blue as the ocean stared up at Nick.

"Um, guys, this is Zoe or as you know her Shadow, Nick, Zoe is your sister." Emma explained.


End file.
